Samantha Busch Marks First Las Vegas Race Weekend Without Kyle at LVMS

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas Motor Speedway was never just another stop on the schedule for Kyle Busch. It was home. This past weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race — the first at the track since Busch’s death on May 21 — brought his widow Samantha back to the place where so much of their life together unfolded, and she was candid about how hard it was.

Back in Vegas

Samantha Busch opened up about the trip in a personal reflection on social media after the weekend, according to Athlon Sports. The two-time Cup Series champion’s widow wrote on X:

“Being back in Vegas was difficult to say the least. So many incredible memories with Kyle and now the ache of making new ones without him. They say grief is just love with nowhere to go, and I felt that deeply this weekend. Thank you to everyone who came out to honor Kyle, support Brexton racing, and continue showing the kids and I so much love,” she wrote.

She also posted photos alongside the message: one showing her daughter touching a memorial stone bearing Kyle’s name and signature checkered-flag logo, and another of her children watching a rainbow stretch over a parking lot at sunset, according to Athlon Sports.

In an Instagram post earlier in the weekend, she had been even more raw about the emotions of the return, according to MotorBiscuit. “Missing my other half so much right now in Vegas. So grateful for all the memories we made here,” she wrote. “It was so much harder than I thought it was going to be. Just so many memories flooded back. Kyle and I spent so much time here and had so many good memories here. It was really hard and I’m not gonna lie, a lot of my stages of grief have been just this overwhelming sadness and feeling like a piece of me is missing.”

But when she arrived, a different emotion set in: anger. “It wasn’t until I got here that I got very angry. It hurts. I want him here with me,” she said, according to MotorBiscuit.

A weekend of tributes

The sport made sure the hometown hero was everywhere this weekend. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring hosted the Kyle Busch Classic on Friday night in his honor. Before the race, Kyle and Samantha’s son Brexton gave the command and rolled off fifth for the race, according to MotorBiscuit.

On Sunday, the South Point 400 — the fifth race of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase, a 267-lap event — carried tributes across the garage, according to MotorBiscuit. Kyle Larson ran a yellow-and-blue, Kyle Busch-inspired No. 5 paint scheme, a nod to Busch’s early Cup Series days driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Kyle’s older brother Kurt Busch served as the honorary pace car driver before the start.

The tributes have been building all summer. At Bristol on Sept. 19, Samantha gave a pre-race speech, fans held a Lap 18 towel tribute, and the track unveiled a plaque honoring Busch’s 23 Bristol national-series wins, according to the Tennessean. Charlotte held a moment of silence, and the family’s Bundle of Joy Fund has been part of the tributes. A celebration of life was planned for October after the Charlotte Truck Series race — and now it has a date and a network.

Kurt Busch and the family’s grief

The sentiment from Samantha echoed comments from Kyle’s brother, Kurt Busch, who spoke to reporters ahead of Sunday’s race after a full week of tributes tied to the family’s Las Vegas homecoming, according to Athlon Sports.

“I’m just appreciative of everyone putting the effort forth and making every event very special and highlighting him in the right way. It’s just tough. It’s just something that I still feel like he should be here, and it wasn’t his time,” Kurt told reporters. “But events like this and weeks like this and the NASCAR community can help with the closure side of it.”

Kurt is expected to speak at Kyle’s Celebration of Life, which will double as a public memorial service, according to Athlon Sports.

Celebration of Life on Friday

NASCAR and FOX Sports confirmed that FS1 will carry live coverage of Kyle Busch’s Celebration of Life from Charlotte Motor Speedway this Friday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. ET, immediately following that night’s Craftsman Truck Series race, according to Athlon Sports. The service is being positioned as the primary public gathering for fans to honor the two-time champion, who won 63 Cup Series races and seven national-series events at his hometown track in Las Vegas alone.

Separately, Clark County is considering renaming private drive aisles at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in honor of Kyle and his brother Kurt, with “Busch Brothers Drive” among the proposals moving through the county’s planning process, according to Athlon Sports.

The hometown hero

Kyle Busch died May 21, 2026, at age 41, after a day in the hospital with severe bacterial pneumonia that progressed to sepsis, according to the estate account via PopCulture.com. The Las Vegas native, born in 1985, grew up racing at the Las Vegas Bullring — a short track about a mile from the 1.5-mile speedway — where he won two track championships, according to MotorBiscuit. He went on to seven NASCAR national series victories at his hometown track, including the 2009 Cup Series race.

For the Busch family, Las Vegas was never just another stop on the schedule, and this week’s Celebration of Life in Charlotte figures to be the next hard, necessary step in processing a loss the entire NASCAR community continues to grieve alongside them.

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